1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a system for tracking and monitoring the presence of an object, and more particularly to a system in which any battery operated device can be tracked and/or monitored relative to a parent monitoring device.
2. The Background Art
There are many electronic products on the market today that utilize batteries of various types to provide a power source for operation of the device. While battery operated, many of these devices are quite valuable and thus expensive to replace if lost or stolen. One such device is particularly susceptible to loss due to its size and frequent use. This device is a cell phone. As cell phone technology has advanced, the size of cell phones has significantly decreased. In addition, cell phones have become common personal item that are carried with many people at all times. Because of their small size and the frequency of their use, thousands of cell phones have been lost. That is, a user often sets their cell phone down and then leaves that location without taking their cell phone with them. It is often the case, however, that the cell phone is not located after its loss.
Loss of battery operated electronic devices is also common with such things as computer laptops, PDAs, digital music players, cameras, camcorders and other expensive electronic devices. Various devices are known in the art for monitoring or locating objects that are commonly found in possession of a person. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,105 a lost object locator includes activation units that are mounted on a rack and response units that are attached to objects that are commonly misplaced such as car keys. Each of the activation units corresponds to a single response unit and when one of the objects that has a response unit attached thereto is lost or misplaced, the corresponding activation unit can be activated to send a signal to the response unit on the lost object. When the response unit attached to the lost object receives the signal from the activation unit, an audible tone is emitted from the response unit which, ideally, will indicate the location of the lost object to the person activating the activation unit. The invention also provides for mobile activation units that can be placed in areas that the person believes are nearer the lost object so that the audible tone can be easily detected by the person when the response unit is activated by the activating unit. Such a system, however, requires custom made components that are attached to the object to be tracked.
Likewise, the device for monitoring or locating objects disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,646,593 is comprised of a child proximity detector which includes a parent unit that receives pulse signals on a regular interval from a child unit. When the parent unit fails to receive a signal from the child unit, an alarm condition is established in the parent unit. Again, such systems are not designed to be incorporated into existing electronic products.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,388 provides the function of a child proximity detector by monitoring a person, or persons, to determine if they have moved, or been moved, further than a preselected distance from a base station. Once again, the system does not provide the capability of being incorporated into existing electronic devices without significant modification.
Thus, it would be highly advantageous to provide a device for tracking any battery operated device simply by substituting the existing conventional battery with one that provides the device with the capability of being tracked.